12 days to go

Our last day at Swinburne before we move to the Carlton Gardens was frenetic with activity, final decisions, packing up materials and a healthy dose of nervous anticipation. A trip through the landscape yard at the Wantirna site would leave most confused, but it all makes perfect sense to us.

The shed framework isn't finished, but the team have done as much as they can. I haven't seen Stewart's lovingly sourced tree trunk posts in place at the front of the shed, but will soon enough. I'm glad we could finally make use of all the timber lying around at the nursery and show it in its gnarled, lichen covered natural form. The timber in our stand shows a real journey when you think about it. We have trees in pots, like the exciting new dwarf Lemon Scented gum - Scentuous, we'll have branches of lemon scented gum hanging from the eucalyptus pergola, we have fallen eucalyptus trunks and limbs creating most of the structural elements of the garden and finally, the showpiece red gum bar stretching 5 metres long and almost 2 metres in diameter. The bar is a simple affair - a 2 tonne slab that is only half of the fallen red gum found on a property in Benalla. It was cut by a portable mill on site a few years ago, so is weathered well but now beautifully figured where bark once protected it. I think it's going to look like a good bed towards the end of next week.

The bar on a property in Benalla

Floral installations are important in our shed as native cut flowers take centre stage there. There has been many changes to the design over the last few months as positioning of different elements were finalised. Yesterday we were planning on cutting holes in the corrugated tin lining of the shed and having flowers spill out of the holes like nature has reclaimed this old barn, but today they will be hanging arrangements spilling out of palm husks. It'll save us some time on site, but also be a beautiful natural effect I think. Sandra is a creative master and loves to work on the edge I think. But then, often at these shows, the best ideas come towards the end of the build as improvisation kicks in and the artist emerges through the fatigue. The trick is to be open and run with it, having fun along the way

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The new dwarf Lemon Scented Gum

Well, my jobs for today are long - chasing scaffolding for the shed roofing and pergola, working on the delivery schedules, finalising work plans and printing the layout plan in multiple layers as we'll mark it out on site tomorrow. We're fortunate to get an early start on site due to the cranes and heavy deliveries that would otherwise hold everyone else up on Monday. Our site is right next to the central fountain in the gardens so if we block the road, no-one will be able to get to the other sites.

The boys are loading the BBQ today with the shed packed in pieces. It will slink down into Melbourne before dawn tomorrow and the birth of our show garden begins. Here we go....